January 9, 2011
The Baptism of the Lord
- Acts 10:34-43
- Dr. Teri Thomas
"Famous" by Naomi Shihab Nye
from Words Under the Words: Selected Poems
The river is famous to the fish.
The loud voice is famous to silence,
which knew it would inherit the earth
before anybody said so.
The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds
watching him from the birdhouse.
The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.
The idea you carry close to your bosom
is famous to your bosom.
The boot is famous to the earth,
more famous than the dress shoe,
which is famous only to floors.
The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it
and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.
I want to be famous to shuffling men
who smile while crossing streets,
sticky children in grocery lines,
famous as the one who smiled back.
I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,
or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,
but because it never forgot what it could do.
By these standards Jesus was certainly famous. His fame really began with his baptism. Peter tells the story of Jesus' life and ministry in his brief sermon from Acts. Jesus spread the message of peace beginning with his baptism. Then he engaged in ministry of doing good and healing. He died and then rose from the dead. He has sent us out to carry on the ministry he began.
His baptism made him famous. Like a pulley or a buttonhole. Because he always remembered what he could do. He remembered because in his baptism he was - named and filled and sent.
• Jesus is named the beloved of God
• He is filled with the Spirit
• He is marked as a servant and sent into the wilderness
The same thing happens when we baptize. We are named as children of God- God's beloved sons and daughters. We are filled with the Spirit of God We are marked as servants- as disciples and sent on our journey. Baptism reminds us what we can do. It is the start of a journey of discipleship.
Being on a journey with Jesus means taking a journey from the life of conventional wisdom to the wisdom of the spirit. We listen to his teaching, sometimes understanding, sometimes not having a clue.
To journey with him might involve defending, denying or betraying. To journey with means to share life, eating, drinking, crying, celebrating, coming to the table to be fed by him, nourished by him. To journey with means to be in his company, to be in his presence, to be in community. So the journey that begins with baptism makes us famous. Our baptism is taking sides with God's work in our present time and place.
In our journey through life there are many voices crying for our attention.
There is a voice that says, "Prove yourself."
Another voice says, "You'd better be ashamed of yourself."
There also is a voice that says, "Nobody really cares about you,"
and one that says, "You must be successful, popular, and powerful."
But underneath all these often very noisy voices
is a still, small voice that says,
"You are my Beloved, with you I am pleased."
You are famous.
You know what you have been made to do.
That's the voice we need most of all to hear.
(Henri J. M. Nouwen, from Bread for the Journey )
So we come here. We gather as a community to journey together and to hear that voice, to be that voice for others, to receive that promise and that hope. We are baptized. We are loved. And we are also sent. We are called forth to a divine purpose.
Jesus baptism sent him on a journey that led to the cross and then to the right hand of God. Our baptism sends us on a journey that leads to love and to service and to discipleship. Some of us are called to be members, some are called to be deacons, some are called to be elder and some are called to ministry of Word and Sacrament. Some of us are simply called to try one new thing. But whatever our call, whatever our particular journey, it is a journey that makes us famous, like a pulley or a buttonhole. Because we never forget what we can do.
Remember your baptism and give thanks.
Amen.